Chad Smith Logic and Justification! "NOT"

In a previous article of mine in regards to the Cherokee Freedmen issue Freedmen Part 2, a question was asked, which was, "how does Chad Smith with Logic justify his action against the Freedmen?" I answered, "By absolute misinformation and blatant outright lies" As I have said, this Class of Cherokee, are descendants of Freedmen on the Dawes Rolls, which are rolls by the Dawes Commission of 1883 and completed in 1906, used by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) to determine who the descendants of a Cherokee citizen listed may be, and the Freedmen are absolutely no different than any other of the several ethnicities of Nationals/Citizens on the Dawes Rolls...

This is simply so, because when the Dawes Rolls was done the purpose of the Rolls was to determine who, living in the Cherokee Nation at the time, were actually Citizens of the Cherokee Nation, for the sole purpose of determining who was to be eligible for an allotment of a piece of the Cherokee land (Then Indian Territory) the Federal government had Confiscated, with the excess going to preparation of Oklahoma becoming a State of the Union. An aside of the main purpose was a blood degree was listed for the Cherokee people for the purpose of placing them under the protection of the restricted ownership in trust status of their allotment. A second aside of the main purpose, the Crooked Dawes Commission knew that if the black Cherokee were place on a Separate section of the Rolls called the Freedmen roll, they would have no restrictions on their allotment, and open for the taking by unscrupulous white land barons/outright crooks, and they did take the most of it, simply because the Freedmen had not become literate yet, all during slavery it was a violation of law to teach a slave to read and write.

So some things to glean from the statement above is, "Number one"; The "Dawes Rolls" is a set of rolls with listings of different class of Cherokee citizens, The Cherokee had long since become a Nation of Nationals/Citizens no different than any other Nation of the world, so it is not one Single base roll as Smith implies.

"Number Two"; Each individual Section of the Rolls was for the different ethnic classes of Cherokee Citizens by fact of Cherokee law from the enumeration of the citizens of the Cherokee Nation,

"The 1880 Cherokee Census " shows you there were Adopted Delaware Indians, Shawnee, Nachez, Creek, and adopted Caucasian, adopted Negro, or Colored, last but not least the section for intermarried whites who were classed as citizens as long as married, and if the Cherokee spouse died they remained a widowed Cherokee citizen unless they re married out of the Cherokee populace, so this gives you the different classes of Cherokee by fact of law, Treaties agreements etc..

"Number Three" the thing that Smith pushes as the big lie "The Freedmen have no Cherokee blood," true, some may not have but that is inconsequential for they are Cherokee by fact of law, blood be damned, at the time of the 1880 census the black Cherokee family members only show up on the census as Cherokee, no different than all the different "mixes" of all the ethnicities as Cherokee at the time...It was ONLY by the enumeration of the Dawes commission were they segregated to the Freedmen section of the rolls regardless of Cherokee family member by family blood, simply because of the color of their skin, nappy, hair or any other African trait that may be visible.

Also in my answer to the posters question, I suggested going to the CNO web site an see the listings of what they call Myth and Fact, which is the logic and justification of the actions against the Cherokee Freedmen... I decided to offer my truth of the actual facts in the matter so following each of Smith's facts will be my statement of truth on the matter.

1. MYTH: You need to have a large degree of Cherokee blood to be eligible for citizenship.

FACT : To be considered a Cherokee citizen, you need one Indian ancestor listed on the base roll of our people. The Cherokee Nation doesn't care what other heritage anyone has: if someone has an Indian ancestor on our base roll, they are part of our Cherokee family.

My Truth!

For the most part the CNO fact is pretty accurate, with a slight exception, see header above, there is no Base Roll as a single roll, there is the Dawes Roll that includes all Cherokee Citizens at the time. The Dawes Rolls does not say all these sections are Cherokee citizens except for the Freedmen section, quite simply they were ALL Cherokee, equally so all, and for allotment of Cherokee land!

2. MYTH: The Cherokee Nation is kicking African-Americans out of the tribe.

FACT : The Cherokee Nation is among the most inclusive of Indian tribes. We embrace our mixed-race heritage and we are proud of our thousands of citizens who share African-American, Latino, Asian, white and other ancestry. To be a Cherokee, all you need is one Indian ancestor on the base roll. African-Americans with an Indian ancestor on our base roll have always been, and will continue to be, citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

My Truth!

Again pretty accurate except for the same as number 1, plus the second part of the big lie, The Cherokee Citizens that are black, he can do nothing about but simply accept them, and use them against the Freedmen, some are gullible enough to hawk the lies against their fellow Cherokee the Freedmen descendants, their status though it is evident they are black, have an ancestor that is Cherokee, NOT a black on the Cherokee Section of the Dawes roll, exactly the same as all the other ethnicities Smith hawks as Citizens, same as the white who had a Cherokee ancestor on the Cherokee Section of the Dawes Rolls, that are hawking kick out the blacks...

3. MYTH: The election allows adopted whites with no blood quantum listed on Cherokee rolls to remain citizens.